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Paris-Nice 2013 Preview – Stage 4

The Race to the Sun continues south to the Mediterranean on 7th March, Thursday. Brioude and Saint-Vallier are the stage towns and we’re going to have 7 categorized climbs on the way. It is a bit longer version of last two years’ stage 4 parcours. 2 years ago, it was Thomas Voeckler‘s solo breakaway in the rain; last year, bunch sprint won by Gianni Meersman within a select group of 50 riders. Sylvain Chavanel still looks confident and lustful for a stage win and he showed on wednesday that he can stay with the elite group in the climbs so look for him if it comes to a bunch sprint.

The climbs won’t be hard enough to make much change in the GC competition but will be the second shake-up for the overall standings. For the GC to settle, we’ll have to wait for the queen-stage on Friday.